Clothesline attachment



April 18, 1961 J. R. ANDERSON ETAL 2,980,383

CLOTHESLINE ATTACHMENT Filed May 11, 1959 United States Patent 2,980,383 'CLOTHESLINE ATTACHMENT J. Roland Anderson and Lenore Anderson, both of 7450 E.,River Road, Minneapolis,

Filed May 11, 1959, Ser. No. 812,245

Claims. (Cl. 248.-317) This invention relates to attachments for olotheslines and more specifically t'o clothesline attachments for sus-' pending clothes hangers or the like therefrom.

Clothing is oftentimes suspended from outside clotheslines by clothes hangers for the purpose of airing or drying the clothing. Airing and drying of clothing requires these garments to be spaced apart. When a large number of garments are suspended from a clothesline by coathangers, the load causes the line to sag which results in the clothes hangers becoming bunched together which in turn prevents the free circulation of air therebetween. Clothes hangers are also easily blown from the clothesline by wind.

It is, therefore, a general object of this invention to provide an attachment of simple and inexpensive construction for releasably securing coat hangers or the like to clotheslines.

Another object of this invention is the provision. of a novel and improved attachment adapted to be releasably secured to a clothesline and adapted to support a clothes hanger or the like in suspended relation thereto.

A still more specific object of this invention is the provision of a novel and improved clothesline attachment adapted to be releasably secured to a clothesline in nonslidable relation thereto and adapted to support a coat hanger or the like therefrom.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a pair of the novel and improved clothesline attachments secured to a clothes- 7 line and suporting a pair of garment beating clothes hangers therefrom;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the clothesline attachment with the locking element shown in the locked condition by dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view taken on lines 33 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on lines 4-4 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

One embodiment of this invention, as shown in Figs. 1-4, may include a substantially flat body member having a clothesline receiving recess or groove 11 extending across a face thereof. It will be seen that groove 11 completely spans body member and divides said body member into an upper or planar portion 12 and a lower supporting portion 13. The lower supporting portion 13 has an opening 14 formed therein for receiving the hook portion of a coat hanger, as shown in Fig. 1. A second opening in the form of an elongated slot 14a may also be provided for the purpose of accommodating coat hangers having substantially flat hook portions.

Means for removably securing the attachment to a clothesline includes a substantially disc shaped locking {element or member designated generally 15 and which is secured to the body element 10 for oscillating movement relative thereto by a pivot pin 16. Referring now to Fig. 4 it will be seen that locking member 15 is substantially parallel to body member 10 and that pivot pin 16, which is disposed perpendicularly to body member 10, is substantially normal to groove 11. Locking element 15 has a portion of its peripheral or marginal area flared or bent outwardly as at 17 to thereby space the same from body member 10. The angle formed by the flared or outwardly bent portion 17 in body member 10 progressively increases over a substantial circumferential or peripheral extent to thereby define a camming segment 18. The marginal portion of locking element 15 is also bent outwardly at right angles to the remaining portion thereof to thereby define a finger tab or handle portion 19 for facilitating rotation of the locking element 15. ,When the locking element 15 is rotated to position finger tab portion 19 closely adjacent groove 11, finger tab portion 19 then provides a means for releasing the clothesline from groove 11.

The device is applied to a clothesline by first positioning the finger tab portion 19 closely adjacent groove 11 to thereby permit a clothesline 29 to be received within the recess or groove 11. The finger tab portion 19 is then.

grasped and the locking element 15 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, as shown in Fig. 2, whereby the camming segment 18 is moved in closely spacedrelation to groove 11 and then progessively cams or compresses the clothesline 20 within the groove 11 as the locking element 15 is rotated further. As the peripheral portion of locking element 15, which is not flared or bent outwardly, approaches groove 11, the clothesline 20 will become wedged or frictionally locked within groove 11. When thus applied to a clothesline the attachment is held in non slidable relation thereon and will, of course, support a coat hanger in a suspended manner as shown in Fig. 1. To release the attachment from the clothesline, finger tab portion 19 is grasped and merely turned in a direction oppositely to that in which it was applied whereby the rllevice may be quickly and easily removed from the clothes- It will be seen from the foregoing description that we have provided a novel and improved attachment for clotheslines adapted to support a coat hanger or the like in suspended relation thereto which may be easily secured and removed from a clothesline. When it is desirable to hang a plurality of garments on a clothesline whereby each is suspended from a coat hanger, the proper spacing of the garments may be accomplished by use of our novel attachment since it is secured to the clothesline in non-slidable relation thereto.

it will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of our invention whichconsists of the matter shown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An attachment for clotheslines comprising a body member having a substantiallyplanar portion and having an elongate, continuous clothesline receiving groove formed therein and extending transversely thereof, said body member including means for attaching a clothes hanger thereto, a locking member secured to said body 2. An attachment for clotheslines comprising a sub- 11"; stantially flat body member having an elongate,continu:

' bez fig ra atist a'bsut an iiiis dis sos edjerpe'fiaipul 1 e ie is ot lieithro r n eludingmeans for attaching @1 coat hanger thereto, a substantially flat locking element secured to said body men element being disposed in substantially parallel rlelatidh 7 to: said 5613* member having a portion (if its merginzil irea positioned closely adjacent said 'groove, sa'id lfogk ing 'to said body ni'ember alnd h'aving a port ion (if its agma;

area-flared Q'utWaIdIy and awaytrom said bedymel br tehmentg is lheld"figainst'slidingmovement relative 'tb said 'elothsline. V V r i to thereby definea camming segment whereby 11pm; 'rqta-' V tion 9f 'saidldckin'g element the camming segmetztjwjll t progressively press 1, clotheslin'e in clamped relz'itidn ,4! The stfucture set forth 'ii'ig Elenififis ifirdvide'd with? handle ffot operating the same.

5 The structure as in claim 2 wherein'said 155kgr oove is disposed between the axis of rotaticn, of said locking member and said coat hanger attaching means.

' Refer ees cm 111 51; or this patent uuly 4, "1901 1 11113 18, 1911 Oct, 4, 1924 n EbsT-A stm-EN 2,248,330 J1'11y'8, 1941 2,505,306 Apr. 25, 1950 2,508,759 Jones --;.--J May, 23, 1950 2,749,075 Altergott June 5,. 1956 2,915,274 Gustitus Dec. 1, 1959 defined in clai1n2 wherein said 

